English football club, Manchester United’s former manager, Erik ten Hag, has been sacked by the German football club, Bayer Leverkusen, over poor performance in the league.
Ten Hag’s time at the club came to an end after two Bundesliga matches, with the last when the team suddenly collapsed against a 10-man Werder Bremen, surrendering a 3-1 lead to end the match at 3-3.
The 55-year-old, who was sacked on Monday, was only appointed by the German club in the summer following his dismissal by the English club in October 2024.
The Dutchman is the third former United boss to be sacked in a week after Ole Gunner Solskjaer was dismissed by Besiktas on Thursday and Jose Mourinho exited Fenerbahce.
Confirming the development, Leverkusen’s Managing Director, Simon Rolfes, said: “Nobody wanted to take this step. However, the past few weeks have shown that building a new and successful team with this set-up is not feasible.”
Ten Hag’s sacking is the fastest in Bundesliga history, breaking the previous record of five matches.
Leverkusen have earned one point from their first two league games after losing 2-1 at home to Hoffenheim on the opening weekend, drawing 3-3 at 10-man Werder Bremen on Saturday, having led 2-0 and 3-1.
Ten Hag signed a two-year contract to succeed Xabi Alonso as head coach in May after the Spaniard, who led Leverkusen to a league and cup double in 2023-24, was appointed Real Madrid boss.
“A parting of ways at this early stage of the season is painful, but we felt it was necessary,” said Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro.
“We remain committed to achieving our goals for the season – and to do that, we need the best possible conditions at all levels and across the entire first team.”
Ten Hag was tasked with bedding in more than a dozen new signings before this season, having lost several key players in the summer.
Florian Wirtz joined Liverpool for a fee rising to £116m, Jeremie Frimpong also moved to the Reds for £29.5m, and Granit Xhaka signed for Sunderland for £13m.
Defender Jonathan Tah joined Bayern Munich on a free transfer, winger Amine Adli moved to Bournemouth in a deal worth up to £25.1m, while goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky joined Monaco.
The three most expensive signings in Leverkusen’s history – Malik Tillman from PSV Eindhoven, Jarell Quansah from Liverpool, and Eliesse Ben Seghir from Monaco – all arrived this summer, for a total of £88.4m (102m euros) plus add-ons.
“This decision was not an easy one for us. We firmly believe in the quality of our team and will now do everything we can to take the next steps in our development with a new setup”, he added.
The club did not name a replacement for Ten Hag, saying the “training work would be taken over by the assistant coaching staff for the time being”.
“We remain committed to achieving our goals for the season – and to do that, we need the best possible conditions at all levels and across the entire first team,” added Carro.
“Now it’s a matter of fully implementing and utilising these conditions again.”
